Antiracist 2 day event in Rethymno, Crete 14-15 Nov.

AT THE HOUSE OF CULTURE, OLD TOWN, RETHYMNO GREECE

DISCUSSIONS + VIDEO PROJECTIONS

“One year after the hunger-strike in Chania: empowered by the movement’s past, for the movement’s tomorrow” – Event in Chania, Crete, Friday 20 Nov ‘09.

Forum of Immigrant in Crete event – open discussion about last year’s hunger strike in Chania.

Worker Unions’  Center, Chania, Friday, 20 Nov 2009, 19.30.

4 of the Nikea marchers released as pressure mounts against the hood-law

Submitted by taxikipali on Oct 21 2009, at libcom.org

Five of the eight marchers of Nikea, arrested last Saturday during an anti-torture demo, have been released after court hearing. Meanwhile pressure against the hood-law used against 4 of the 8 for the first time in Greece is mounting with occupations and solidarity.

At squares and workplaces anti-immigrant police operations continue

Athens Indymedia users have been reporting lately the increased police presence – cops in uniforms and undercover ones – in one more area of the center of Athens, Vathi Square. One police mini-bus, full of immigrants, presumably to de deported, was spotted. The square already seems “evacuated” and it is possible that the young-aged undercover cops operating there are paving the way for pogroms in the nearby area.

Other Athens Indymedia users report that more and more police operations (document checks) now take place in workplaces, like construction sites, as well as at streets and squares around Greece where immigrants stand everyday early in the morning waiting for someone to hire them for one day’s work (in farms, construction sites, etc.). There has been reports of such incidents in Athens and Heraclion, Greece. This period is ideal for cops to start entering workplaces since Union representatives are preoccupied with election campaigns of their affiliate parties.

sources in Greek:

http://athens.indymedia.org/front.php3?lang=el&article_id=1085079

http://athens.indymedia.org/front.php3?lang=el&article_id=1085124

Solidarity with Rosa Nera squat, attacked by fascists on 13th September 2009

On Sunday, 13 September 2009, a cowardly group, armed with helmets and helves, attacked the  Rosa Nera squat in Chania, at a time when almost all comrades were at the local antiracist festival.  At the entrance of the squat they hit a mother, her student son, a friend and an immigrant and then left quickly, within 2-3 minutes, hitting one more elderly person and his son who were at that time returning to the building .  During the last week posters and banners of the festival were torn across the city.

ROSA NERA CALLS FOR AN ANTIFASCIST DEMO ON FRIDAY, SEPT 25, 17.00, AGORA SQUARE, CHANIA, CRETE

SOURCE: http://rosanera.squat.gr/

Anti-immigrant gathering in Aghios Panteleimonas, racist assaults against school students in Rethymno

Yesterday, September 23, an anti-immigrant gathering took place in the Aghios Panteleimonas square in Athen.  The usual riff raff of “indignated citizens” along with militant neo-nazis took pride collectively for kicking immigrants out of “their” squares.

source: tvxs article

In Rethymno, Crete, there have been some new incidents of racist violence and many threats against teenagers from Albania.  The students of the technical high school reported the incidents to the police on September 21.  No lawsuit has been lodged but it seems that the local community knows that a local pocket of  junta nostalgic youngsters is behind all this.

source: http://neolaiasynreth.blogspot.com/2009/09/blog-post_22.html

45 refugees reach the shore of southern Crete οn boats – solidarity campaign by the Forum of Immigrants in Crete

a hand through a window - a photo from an action at Kissamos, Chania, where 113 refugees where detained in September, 2006

Around 45 refugees reached yesterday night the shore of Palaiochora and Lafonisi οn boats.   Men, women and children.

In these times, when, according to some, the greatest evil society has to deal with are the “sans papiers”, what might be the fate of these wretched souls? The fate of those who, according to some, are not refugees, neither exiled, but clandestine, illegal, criminals, more dangerous, even than the network of gangsters-constructors-authorities who parade through TV screens the last few days, and appear to have been calling government ministers by their surname …

The sea washed 45 “utterly evil” people of this sort, refugees that is, ashore, yesterday, the 20th of July, 2009 on the south of the Prefecture of Hania.  These refugees have escaped some country of terror and death, presumably Iraq. Families with children, a pregnant woman… Wage labourers, mothers and children, who made it out of war, poverty and juntas… The politics that wants them illegal, clandestine, will detain them for months in prison cells, though they’ve commited no crime, it ‘ll keep them unemployed, it’ll force them work for 2 euros an hour. This politics goes against society’s interests.

The interests of us all working people, lay in the granting of asylum to all these people, so that they live in dignity with their families, to join unions, to join common struggles with their Greek colleagues against the real enemy: the cartel of political and economic power-holders, who set “criseis” up, who create unemployment, in order to cut down wages.

The 45 refugees are in a hotel in Georgioupolis.  The next days we will try to contact them, along with the Medecins du Monde and Amnesty International. Some first aid in clothes, especially underwear, would be very much appreciated. The office of the Forum of Immigrants in Crete (Chatzimihali Daliani 67, Chania) will be open for anyone who wishes to aid.

FORUM OF IMMIGRANTS IN CRETE

ΦΟΡΟΥΜ ΜΕΤΑΝΑΣΤΩΝ ΚΡΗΤΗΣ ,

Χατζημιχάλη Νταλιάνη 67 , Chania, Crete, 73100

tel. 00302821058851, mobile. 00306973525049- 00306982445088

forum.kritis@yahoo.gr

A prosecutory fiasco adds to the police vengeful campaign against immigrants in Chania, Crete

Surveillance and prosecutions in the town of Chania against struggling immigrants and their organisations continue. The police in the town after the two day networking and action event by the Forum of Immigrants in Crete launched a campaign of intimidation against the rise of immigrant assertive activity (see this post: Police campaign to intimidate struggling immigrants and communities in Chania, Crete). Among the arrestees of the days was Farahat Gabri, active in the migrant movement since years, whose health was in a bad condtion and remains so after his detention and the police denial of  access to medical care (instead of some hospital, he was transferred to Athens, away from his support networks – see this Chania Haunt of Immigrants – Social Haunt press release about this case – in Greek).

Yesterday though, the situation in the town took a bleaker and at the same time ridiculous – as regards the police’s “master plans” – twist.   After the arson attack against a police vehicle at the Souda district the police invaded the houses of immigrants well known from their year long residence in the town and their affiliations with the social struggle for rights.   Two of them were supposedly witnessed to be near the spot of the arson attack.

They were brought to court yesterday.  The witness was a junky, absolutely depended on state benefits support and intermingled with the undercover police in Chania.  The Courts of Chania were filled and surrounded with all sorts of police, who kept encouraging the “witness” to “say everything, and f*ck them”….

The Forum of Immigrants in Crete called the people who had been with the two immigrants that night to confer their testimonies to the court. Along with the Athens Indymedia post of some group assuming responsibility for the arsonist assault, and the rapid response by lawyers in Chania, the pressures culminated and led the court to to downgrade the charges (the accused immigrants would be otherwise trialled under the “terrorism-law”) and then release them until some DNA tests are carried out on supposedly found evidence.  The court will resume in ten days.

The Forum of Immigrants in Crete calls for vigilance.  This last police fiasco is not an isolated incident. It is not only part of the general terroristic “sweep operations” rush of the last days, but also – and crucially so -part of the vengeful campaign of the minister of public order Markoyannakis against the self – organized assertive initiatives of the Forum – the police and pertinent ministries will not forget and will not forgive the local community support and the momentum of  the last winter’s hunger strike.

Tomorrow (Thursday) an open discussion with the town’s associations, trade unions and political organisations is to take place at Papadopetrou building in the center of Chania.

(most info from Forum of Immigrants in Crete release).

Immigrants march again in Athens despite fascist counterdemo

This is a reproduction of a report by  taxikipali  at libcom.org.

clandestinenglish

 

On Friday 29 May immigrants and solidarity protesters marched to the greek parliament despite fascist counterdemo and media scaremongering.

Following the intensifying repression against immigrants, especially of muslim origin, across the country, and the greek police’s failure to apologise for the public and humiliating destruction of a copy of the Koran during sweeping operations against immigrants in the coveted area of Agios Panteleimonas last week, thousands of immigrants and solidarity protesters took the the streets of Athens in protest against racism, police repression and parastate white terror. The protest march went ahead with no violence apart from a token destruction of the fascist party’s (LAOS – Popular Orthodox Alarm) euroelection kiosk, despite a counterdemo organised by the Golden Dawn, the notorious neonazi organisation several members of which have been found guilty for attempted manslaughter against left-wing activists.

The fascist counterdemo, numbering less than one hundred parastate elements, was allowed to march in (a parody of) battle formation to the Parliament just before the immigrant march in order to lay a wreath to the unknown soldier monument in memory of the fall of Istanbul to the Ottomans in 1453. The Golden Dawn is primarily responsible for the mobilisation of extreme-right wing elements in the neighborhood of Agios Panteleimonas, forming lightly armed “self-defense” groups purging immigrants from the area’s central square and attacking houses, burning down shops and community places of worship (mosques are illegal in Athens), smashing up public events, and targeting even the church of the parish, the largest in the country, which fell victim to fascist arson attack for providing support and supper for immigrants.

The night before the protest march local anarchists symbolically reoccupied the square of Agos Panteleimonas and broke the chains put by the fascists in order to keep the local playing grounds closed to avert “immigrant children polluting the greek”. Nevertheless the area remains a fascist stronghold, enjoying the subtle backing of the majority of the bourgeois media which on the one hand present an endless spectacle of racist bigotry, and on the other hand cover up the involvement of the neonazis and their support by the police. It is characteristic that Kathimerini, the leading centre-right daily, in a recent long reportage of the situation only referred to the Golden Dawn once, to deny its involvement, although its members had attacked an editor of the newspaper covering the crisis only a few days before.

Protest marches against state repression and fascist terror were also held in Salonica, Patra, Volos, Heraklion and Chania in Crete.

 

Police campaign to intimidate struggling immigrants and communities in Chania, Crete

The two-day event by the Forum of Immigrants in Crete was a succesful one, allowing for the voicing of various issues in the pro-migration, antiracist movement and for the networking and coordination of initiatives.  One of the campaigns launched during the event was the intitiative for the utilization of a deserted public service building for the needs of homeless people in the city of Hania and various other community uses.  This was met with a furious reaction by the police, who attempted to embed a feeling of insecurity, xenophobia and apathy in the community, by launching a campaign of prosecution against immigrants.  The action of the Forum of Immigrants in Crete since last November’s hunger strike is obviously disruptive for the cemetery silence and intercommunity violence the authorities want to cultivate.

This is the translation of an announcement of the now forming initiative in which the Forum of Immigrants in Crete participates and a call for a demo in the Town of Ηania.

clandestinenglish

Recently in the town of Hania we have been witnessing an increase in the levels and the intensity of police “surveillance”. It is plain that the Police have adopted the approach of pointing the finger towards enemies instead of pointing out solutions to the problems affecting us all; it has also assumed “wholesale” the role of the conversant with the local community. A community that, despite finding itself increasingly cooped up, has reacted, asserted, claimed. In the face of this community, in the face of us all, intense attempts to impose new mores have been taking place; the more inspired by the panopticism of the infamous – for his ethos and friends – minister of order enforcement Markogiannakis. By raising the specter of economic crisis, a crusade has been launched to convince the public that for unemployment the immigrants are to blame.

Thus, when the society of Hania claimed the conceded by the pertinent ministry Markopoulos military camp, the police forces came to the festivities to demand that the raising awareness panels be taken down from the yard’s wall… When the workers celebrated the Labor Day, police squads were sent to the spot to observe. When immigrants called the local community to join a celebration of solidarity and claim the deserted IKA building for the homeless of the town, his special forces came in all their oppression equipment to hand out ultimatums asking the dissolution of the event.

More generally, what is taking place is an intense effort to turn into a routine the heavy and disturbing presence of the police force, with dozens of policemen in uniforms and jeeps roaming furiously the city center with no apparent reason, with consecutive degrading “stop-and-search”controls of Greeks and immigrants.

The most worrying about their logic and intentions is the systematic terrorizing of the most precarious among us, the economic migrants who live in this town, especially the ones most active in the struggle for equal rights. They are the ones disrupting the police’s work. Having been denied the the opportunity to crush on a ridiculous pretext the day of the celebration (17th of May 2009) outside the old IKA building, organized by the Forum of Immigrants in Crete, the police leadership has launched a vengeful campaign of targeting and terrorizing immigrants, by attending them outside their houses, arresting them and threatening them with deportation. The police now leaves no room for misunderstandings of their intentions: they present the arrestees with photos featuring them during the hunger strike and asking them about their reasons for taking action and joining the solidarity campaign.

Those in power hope that their logic of repression against every reaction to their power, every protest, every claim for a decent life will be tolerated or go unnoticed if applied first to the most vulnerable of us. They forget, however, and thereby fill us with anger: what they forget is that these people are now our own people. These people won our hearts with all their struggles of the recent period; they earned themselves respect and solidarity. The police forgets that the local community as a single body supported their magnificent struggle in November, the harsch but victorious hunger strike 15 of them subjected themselves to, to be able to live a life with dignity, against the perverse desire of those who want people amidst our communities to suffer from being “illegal”.

The new mores of these wannabe-Masters with all their questionable morals do nothing more disrupt life in our communities and provoke us. They won’t be tolerated, they will not pass. For as long as it is necessary while our society goes through increasingly difficult times, we will not leave no one struggling for a better future unprotected. We will not allow this perverse logic that wants a man in uniform above the head of each and everyone of us to be embedded.

SOLIDARITY WITH THE PROSECUTED IMMIGRANTS

WE WANT THE POLICE OUT OF OUR HOMES, OUT OF OUR STREETS

SOLIDARITY MARCH, Thursday 28 May, 18:00, MARKET SQUARE, HANIA, CRETE